Basil bishop of Synaos (tenth/eleventh century)

Obverse

Bust of St. Basil blessing with his right hand and holding a book in his left hand. Inscription in two columns: |R|σι-λ|ι|ο : Ὁ ἅ(γιος) Βασίλιο(ς). Border of dots.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.

+Rασι.ειε.ισκοπσ.να

Βασι[λ]είῳ ἐ[π]ισκόπ(ῳ) Σ[υ]ναοῦ

Translation

Βασιλείῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Συναοῦ.

Basil, bishop of Synaos.

Commentary

Laurent read the final line of the reverse inscription: σανα. But no letter is visible after the initial sigma and we must dismiss Laurent's assertion that this specimen resolves the problem of the "true spelling of the name of the suffragan bishopric of Laodikeia." We restore the missing letter as upsilon because the bishopric of Sanaos is not attested after the fifth century whereas Synaos appears in many later sources.

Apart from Ankyrosynaos, we have (a) the bishopric of Sanaos, modenr Sarikavak at 40 km southwest of Apameia, attested only until the fifth century (Phrygien und Pisidien, 371), and (b) Synaos, today Simav on the south shore of Simav Göl, attested throughout the centures (Phrygien und Pisidien, 395-96) and appearing in the notitiae both under Laodikeia and under Hierapolis. Laurent (Corpus V/1, 559) and Darrouzès (Notitiae, 27) hypothesize that Synaos of Laodikeia could in fact be identical to Sanaos and that the name was corrupted by copyists, but there is no evidence to support this hypothesis.

Laurent attributed to Synaos two seals of the DO Collection, but we consider these attributions to doubtful to list these specimen in this part of our catalogue (Laurent, Corpus V/3, nos. 1739, 1827-28 [= Zacos-Veglery, no. 926]).